Anthony Lawlor (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Seanad. It is always nice to have the senior Minister in a Department here to discuss something, particularly something as far ranging as this development plan, Project Ireland 2040. In common with other speakers, particularly Senator O'Mahony, I believe that it is important to plan. For too long we have done things in a hip-hop way. Long-term planning is very important. I agree with Senator McDowell that plans need a timeframe. It is okay to write a plan on paper but it is vitally important to set targets for what we want to achieve.

When the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, was the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, he produced the Action Plan for Jobs that stipulated targets for every year. He was accountable and people were accountable if targets were not reached. It is important to outline targets because otherwise things lapse. The key point is to have finance in place on a long-term basis and, therefore, to succeed we need a stable economy. I always cite Germany as a model because it does not have boom and bust cycles. As a result the German Government can make long-term plans for infrastructural projects because it knows the money will come in on a regular basis. Unfortunately, Ireland has experienced boom-and-bust cycles on a regular basis and, therefore, cannot plan for the long term. Ireland, from an economic perspective, is at the wrong end of a cycle. During the bust part, we should invest in infrastructure and during the boom part we should save for the next bust. As usual, we make a mess of things here but that is not the fault of Fine Gael. The fault usually lies with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is left to clean up the mess.

Let me refer to planning. In 1983, my mother opened the first motorway in Ireland, the M7, which is also known as the Naas bypass, along with Dick Spring. The great thing is that the original plan ensured there was enough capacity for three lanes of traffic. The motorway is being widened at the moment and, therefore, none of the bridges must be changes or moved as a result of such forward planning. Almost 40 years later, the original infrastructure can be utilised to create a third lane. That is an example of good planning. I urge the Minister to ensure that when a Luas line or new road network is being designed that it is future proofed in order that the infrastructure can be utilised in 40, 50 or 60 years' time, thus ensuring that we do not have to build something new.

I am sure the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is well aware that the M7 and Sallins bypass are being upgraded. When towns and major hubs are being developed, people should support whatever is needed to provide the infrastructure for ring roads to be built around towns. We must allow planners to design towns so that they have the correct infrastructure to facilitate the population of towns in 20 and 30 years' time, rather than the current five-year plans. I am pushing hard for Naas to get an exterior ring road, for example. At least there is a line on the map now. A feasibility study must be conducted to ensure that in 20 years' time, there is a potential to build the road. I urge everyone to plan for the long term. I seek an assurance from the Minister that he and his Department will encourage long-term development.

Someone built a tunnel under the Phoenix Park that was left idle for almost 100 years. In fairness to the Minister's predecessor, the tunnel has been opened up and now links most of Kildare to the heart of Dublin. Someone built the tunnel in the 1870s and we are benefitting from it now. That just shows that a good plan pays dividends way into the future.

When the idea was mooted to have three lanes on the M7 motorway I proposed that the Luas line should run down the middle of the motorway all of the way down to Naas and build a large park-and-ride facility and provide additional transport links. No one at the time gave me a logical reason for not doing so. Again, I sought to future proof the project so that it could be utilised in ten, 15 or 20 years' time. Unfortunately, many planners work on a five-year cycle or, worse still, a Government cycle. We should break such practices and I am glad to say that the Project Ireland 2040 does so.We need four lanes of railway track to go to Kildare to service the commuter belt. That must be a priority. If we want to take people off the road network, the easiest way to commute from the greater Dublin area to the heart of Dublin is on the railway. It makes sense and it should be a priority.

The National Transport Authority, NTA, and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, have land holdings at the junctions of roundabouts. This land should be used to provide park-and-ride facilities. The buses would be able to pull in and take on passengers to bring them into the centre of Dublin. Even in my village of Johnstown, the TII owns a two-acre patch that the buses pass on their route. This could be levelled off and a park-and-ride facility could be made available. Land in the vicinity of junctions should be considered for that purpose.

Tourism falls within the Minister's brief. We need to work on creating a greenway along the canals. The greenways that have been opened up, in particular in the west and in Waterford are fantastic tourist facilities. I have always viewed the greenway as a major tourist boost for this country. People who visit Ireland do not come for the weather but for other things, and those other things link into the greenways. I put out the idea that Irish Water has a natural right of way from the Shannon to Dublin via the canals, that could be used for the transport of water straight from the Shannon into Dublin, with some storage place along the way. While it would be doing that, it could up the canals as greenways as well.

The sports organisations would like to know whether it is proposed to continue the sports capital funding scheme in the long term. Clubs are no longer the beneficiary of large-scale grants that were distributed during the McCreevy years. I know that my club in Kill got a grant of €750,000 on the condition that it would raise 30% of that sum, which caused it serious problems for a period of time. Now that clubs are getting lower sums of money, their plans are broken down into many steps. The clubs would like to know that the capital funding scheme will be available regularly so that they can apply for funding of €50,000 or €100,000 each year.

Now, I will become very parochial. Kildare County Council spent €500,000 on transport infrastructure during the snow last winter. The county council would like to get that money back to use it for the repair and maintenance of rural roads. There are many rural roads that need to be repaired to make them passable. People in rural areas pay their property tax, they support rural industries and they must be able to use their local roads.

The local authorities must be able to plan. At present, the county council plans from year to year, depending on the allocation from the Department. A multi-annual budget would allow the local authority to plan projects for a five-year period and it would allow a councillor to tell people when their road would be done because the money would be there to do it.

I thank the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, for coming to this Chamber. As I said earlier, it is great to have the Minister listen to our issues. I hope that some of the ideas I have suggested may be taken on board.